Secrecy News -- 07/13/07 (Cloaks)
Aftergood, Steven
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 71
July 13, 2007
Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
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** HEARING ADVANCES CLASSIFICATION REFORM AGENDA
** GOVERNMENT SECRECY: DECISIONS WITHOUT DEMOCRACY
** LEGACY OF ASHES
HEARING ADVANCES CLASSIFICATION REFORM AGENDA
There are several practical steps that could be taken to improve
national security classification and declassification policy, a House
Intelligence subcommittee was told yesterday.
In my testimony at the July 12 hearing, chaired by Rep. Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), I presented a menu of actionable proposals for the subcommittee
to consider:
Agency inspectors general could be assigned to help oversee
classification and declassification activity. A public database of
declassified records could be created to enhance access to such records.
A new format for National Intelligence Estimates could be adopted to
permit broader dissemination of their contents.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2007/071207aftergood.pdf
The subcommittee members, including chairwoman Eshoo, ranking minority
member Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), expressed
satisfaction with the proposals. Several of the ideas, the members
noted, could be quickly adopted, and would not require new
appropriations or establishment of new organizations.
Additional insights into the current state of classification and
declassification policy were provided at the hearing by Meredith Fuchs,
general counsel at the National Security Archive, and J. William
Leonard, director of the Information Security Oversight Office. Copies
of their prepared statements are here:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2007/index.html
Mr. Leonard's statement previewed some of the findings of the 2006 ISOO
Annual Report to the President, which is due to be released later today
or Monday.
GOVERNMENT SECRECY: DECISIONS WITHOUT DEMOCRACY
The expansion of official secrecy now poses a challenge to basic
democratic processes, argues a new report from OpenTheGovernment.org and
People for the American Way.
In a highly readable account, the report explains why openness is a
virtue, explores how secrecy impedes public deliberation, and considers
what can be done about it.
"As Congress and the White House clash over this administration's
unprecedented secrecy, Americans need to know the full scope of the
problem," said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org.
"It is up to us, with and through our elected officials, to preserve our
heritage of open and accountable government."
See "Government Secrecy: Decisions without Democracy," written by David
Banisar, July 2007:
http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/govtsecrecy.pdf
LEGACY OF ASHES
Upon publication this month, "Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner of the New
York Times has all at once become the best single source on the history
of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The book synthesizes entire shelves of prior studies, and surpasses them
with the fruits of deep archival research and two decades of
on-the-record interviews. The detailed endnotes provide pointers for
further investigation.
http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/legacyofashes/index.htm
Somewhat oddly, the book is framed as a "warning."
"It describes how the most powerful country in the history of Western
civilization has failed to create a first-rate spy service. That
failure constitutes a danger to the national security of the United
States," Mr. Weiner writes.
The implication here is that the standard for excellence has been set by
another intelligence agency, one that unlike CIA is "first rate." If
so, it would be interesting to know which agency that is. (Not the KGB,
certainly, nor the SIS or Mossad.)
If not, and if there is no consistently "first rate" intelligence
service, then the problem may lie in an exaggerated expectation that any
secret intelligence service can reliably "see things as they are in the
world."
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
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